Monty meets Kamina
by Knight Of Balance
Summary: A tribute to the late creator. When Monty ascends to Heaven, he meets someone he didn't expect


**Monty Oum Meets Kamina**

 **Knight Of Balance: (Standing tall and proud with tears running down his armor) Well, never thought I'd be making a memorial dedication to a creator. Anyway, I just got into RWBY and I have to say, especially for one not made by professionals, it is one of the best Animes I've ever seen. SO, I decided to do some research on the creators of the show and I learned something: Monty Oum had died eleven months ago.**

 **Upon hearing this, I was sadden. I didn't know him personally but it saddens me that such a dedicated and gifted artist died so young, especially before his first (and now ONLY) series is finished. So, I wanted to honor him by giving what little talent I had to make a story.**

 **Now, the reason why I choose Gurren Lagann. Many of Monty Oum's quotes revolve around the power of the human spirit and how determination can overcome any obstacle. Just like Kamina. He also said in an interview that Gurren Lagann was his favorite anime and I can see that. So, I decided to include it in this.**

 **Disclaimer: How dare you think that I own RWBY! My work is crap compared to Monty's!  
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Monty groaned, opening his eyes to see a vast blue plain high above, which didn't make sense to him. First he in some sort of dark place while he was in the hospital. Noe, he was lying unusually soft and fluffy ground while looking up at a cloudless blue sky. The animator tried to get up, only to fall back down as he did. Unwilling to give up, He tried to get back up. As he did, a hand was extended out to him. Seeing the hand, Monty took the hand and used it as a crutch to get up fully. He wobbled around on the soft ground for a moment before he gained a good footing. Sighing in relief, Monty began dusting his clothes off, which had gained a weird white fluff. He looked around him, surprised at the sight. All he could see to the horizon and beyond was fluffy white stuff that liked like clouds with the sun blazing above him. "Where am I?" He asked, looking around at the area.

"I think it's called Heaven?" He heard the person behind him say. Monty nodded as he heard it, only for the information to fully register. Monty turned towards the man behind him, about to ask him if he was joking, his eyes widening farther than possible when he saw him. Standing there at a full six feet was a man with tanned skin, dressed in a pair of pants barely held up by a black belt with white holes, bandages around his stomach and arms with a color of woven fire on his back with a very familiar skull stamped on it. His hair stuck out everywhere in cobalt spikes but what stood out most of all was what rested on his face: a pair of orange shades in the shape of two triangles merged together. Monty gapped at the man in front of him, unable to comprehend what he was seeing. "You-you-you-" He stammered.

"That's right!" The man said, thrusting a single finger up to the heavens above in a familiar pose, "I am the famed leader of Team Dai-Gurren, whose reputation spreads far and wide! The pinnacle of manliness, the mighty Kamina!"

Monty simply stared at the man before him, unable to comprehend what he was seeing. This was Kamina, the legendary man from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, standing in front of him in the flesh. Regainning his voice, he reached out a hand to him, introducing himself. "Uh, hi Kamina. My name's Monty." Kamina lowered his hand and shook Mounty's, smiling at him with such a wide smile that he temporally forgot his shock and dread, smiling back in response. Kamina pulled out of the handshake and sized him up, "Well, you're the one I've heard about. Not too bad," The animator opened his mouth to ask how he heard of him when the red-eyed man yelled, "Well, are you gonna just stand there all eternity or are you gonna let me show to your new home?"

"Uh, sure." he said, unsure and uncertain. Nodding in confirmation, he turned around and lead him in an unknown direction.

The two men walked and walked along the fluffy surface of the place called Heaven, something that bothered Monty deeply. This couldn't be Heaven, because if this were Heaven, then it would mean that was...dead. Even thinking the word made him shiver. He looked at the back of the one who called himself Kamina, which he, if he was I Heaven, he might believe. True, he was a fictional character but he knew from experience that when you create a character and work with it so much, they become less like a fictional character you're controlling and more like a real person who you watch live their life. So, why couldn't they go to the afterlife like anyone else?

If this was the real Kamina, it did bring him so solace. The man was from his favorite anime, which helped him build RWBY and played a part in his life, so if he had to have a guide, he would be one of the best ones. Deciding to find the answers out, he said to his guide, "Hey, Kamina."

"Yes?" Kamina said, looking back at him.

"You said that I'm in Heaven, right?" He asked.

"Yep," He answered, 'At least, as far as I know. I was just told this was Heaven. I think I remember Leeron talking about this place once and it seems to fit." Monty gulped, unsure if he wanted the answer to his next question. But, he swallowed his fear and pressed on.

"Am I dead?"

"Last time I checked, only dead dudes come here." He answered, making the Asian man stop in his tracks, feeling sorrow enter his body. He stopped in the middle of their walk, Kamina heard this and turned around, watching the man contemplate and lamented his lost life. Instead of getting angry or upset, Kamina sat down and let him wallow in his sorrow. After awhile of this, the silent sobs of the man subsided and he simply knelt there in silence. Then, he got up from his position, looking down at the younger male with a sad, resigned look.

"I-I'm fine," He said, though it sounded more like he was telling himself that, "Let's go." With a nod, the former leader of Team Dai-Gurren got and lead back in the direction of where they were walking before, keeping a closer eye on him than before.

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After what seemed like an eternity and a half, They reached what could easily be called the biggest, grandest castle Monty had ever seen. It was wide as the state of Texas and so tall that the One World Trade Center looked like a doghouse in comparison, towering so high that he couldn't even fathom a top. It was built entirely from stones that seemed to shimmer with the colors of the Aurora Boralis and more, bathing him in a warm, comforting light that seemed eager to wash away all his anxiety and sorrow. It was the most beautiful sight that he had ever seen.

Kamina guided his to the front gate, which could accommodate fifteen Statues of Liberty lying down, stacked one on top of the other. Monty wanted to go inside desperately, despite the sorrow of his own passing still gnawing at him. However, the gates were closed by twin slabs of wood so big that a thousand of the tallest redwoods in existence wouldn't be nearly enough wood to make them. They walked up to a mundane guard-box where a rather mundane guard sat, snickering at something he was watching on his phone. The guard was dressed in an uniform that looked like one a mall cop would wear, except his flipped between red and gold while he had an average face of dark eyes and brown hair. Kamina walked up to the Plexiglass and tapped on it, catching the attention of the guard. "Found the guy you were looking for, Kamina?" He asked in a deep, melodious tone that did not match his appearance one bit.

The young man nodded, gesturing to Monty, "Yep." He said, smiling about it. "Now, could you let us in The guard rolled his dark eyes at him as though this were a common occurrence in Heaven. He pressed a button and the doors open with a booming creak. Kamina looked back at the former animator with a wide smile, "Come on in, I'll show you to your room." The guard rolled his eyes at him.

Monty looked at him reluctantly, asking himself if he really should follow him. But, he relented and walked inside with the warrior. As soon as he stepped inside, the former member of Rooster Teeth was treated to yet another amazing sight. While the outside of the gigantic castle was impressive; the inside of it was even moreso with a massive vaulted corridor lined with sets of gigantic pillars, the size of apartment building, lining the entrance, going as far as the eye can see and beyond. In between each pillar was a door to a certain stairway that lead to a corresponding part of the castle, one of which Kamina lead him to. He opened the door and lead them up perhaps the most contorted staircase he had ever seen. It looped and twisted to a similar shape of the Mad Hatter's train of thought, made even weirder by three facts. One, the staircase had it's own gravity so even when they were upside down, Monty and his guide kept walking unheeded. Two, it sometimes over lapped with other stairs, occasionally merging with so the walked along that for a while until they found their way back onto the original. Three, the staircases moved on their own, swaying and writing like a live serpent.

After just about half the time they spent walking to the castle, Kamina reached a door some five hundred and seventy two stories later, opening the door to a less impressive but still massive hallway. It was structured like a hotel, complete with uniform doors and numbers on them. Kamina walked up to one of the doors, saying, "Well, I think this is your room. Number 572-413", opening the door. Suddenly, a jet of fire bolted out of the door, consuming him. He stood there for a couple minutes until he closed the door, covered in ash. Monty chuckled at this a little as he puffed out a little smoke. "Wrong room," He stated, turning back towards the staircase to find the real room.

After that, it was nothing one disaster after another with the hot-blooded man making mistake after mistake, entering restricted areas ore opening the door to dangerous and angry individuals who would chase them around until they lost them in the labyrinth of staircases. After another eternity passed, the finally found their way to the correct floor, which was sadly one floor lower than the first one. Kamina hesitantly walked up to a sliver colored door, reached a hand out to the doorknob, pulled it back before finally flinging the door open, surprising the newcomer.

Inside was a combination of a well-furnished bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, and his old workshop, exactly the way it was when he last saw it. Upon seeing that specific part of the room, Monty's eyes turned misty as the memories of his time in the workshop came flooding tp him, reminding him of times he would never have again. The blue-haired man sensed that he was starting to fallen into the post-death blues and decided to give him some space to mourn once more, telling him that he lived just down the hall as he closed the door behind him. Monty looked around his new room, unsure of he wanted to do next until his eyes rested upon the bed to his right. Tired both physically and emotionally, he flopped onto the bed and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep. He didn't know how long he slept for, especially since it was hard to tell when time passed in Heaven, but he only awoke to the sound of a blaring foghorn, early evening sunlight poking through the windows of his room. He rose up from the bed, yawning and rubbing his eyes when his guide busted down his door. This woke him up completely, leaping off the bed and addressing him.

"Kamina, what's wrong?" he asked, seeing the panicked look in his eyes. Seeing the Asian man, Kamina grabbed ahold his arm and pulled him out into the hallway, where numerous men and women and...other things were stampeding towards the staircase, rushing down as with in a display that would shame a herd of rhinos. Kamina fought his and Monty's way through the crowd, shouting and yelling over the thundering footsteps, striking any foolish enough to get in his way. After he recovered from being thrusted into yet another weird situation, Monty looked at him and yelled loud enough to overcome the younger man's own yelling, "What's going on?"

Kamina looked back at him as he punched what seemed like a giant octopus with legs, "I just wanted to make sure you got something to eat."

Upon hearing this all-important piece of information, Monty Oum blinked exactly four times before saying, "What?" This was all he could say since they entered the staircase, which rumbled from the sheer force of the people running on it. However, Kamina, bless his heart, decided that the best way to transverse the stairs was to leap down from one side to another with the poor man in tow, who yelled and screamed as he leaped above story high distances while many people ran on either side of it.

Despite the action being reckless and moronic beyond all belief, the stair jumping tactic actually worked as they were one of the first to make it to what was possibly the biggest cafeteria in the multiverse. Normally Monty would be surprised, but considering what he had been through the day, the surprise was both dulled and buried underneath his sadness. Still, he was actively impressed by the buffet table that adorned the western side of the cafeteria, filled to the brim with a magnitude of foods, ranging from normal human cuisines to odd looking dishes that seemed straight out of a science fiction novel.

Kamina let go of his arm and ran over to the food, snatching a plate and piling it high with various meats, both alien and earthly, at sonic speed. Monty was so weirded out by this that, if he were an anime character, he would have sweat dropped. Still, he decided to grab some food anyway when his stomach growled at him. He walked up to the table and searched for something he liked. After a small while, which was enough to have it filled by the herd from before, he found a plate of peanut butter and grape jelly sandwiches. He picked out a single sandwich among them and sat down next to Kamina, who had begun to eat already, tearing through muscle and flesh like no one's problem.

Once everyone had their food, the people that dwelled within the castle began eating and, more importantly, talking with each other with gusto, filling the place full of loud chattering and talking while they ate. Monty, on the other hand, finished eating his sandwich before addressing the only person he knew there. "Hey, Kamina," He said, causing the man to stop eating the huge rack of ribs he was eating, looking at him expectantly, "What's the meaning of this place?"

In response to this, Kamina polished off his ribs before shouting out, "Hey, Mercial! Get down here!" A few minutes later, a man about twenty-two years old came jogging down in a similar uniform to the one that the guard at the gate wore except his was the color of setting sun. His shaggy brown hair and wild green eyes gave him the impression of a mad scientist.

"What do what, Kamina?" He asked politely in a quiet voice that somehow cut through the loud chatter that they were submerged in.

The man from Giha looked at him and asked, "What exactly are we supposed to be doing here?" Mercial blinked at this, as if unsure he heard correctly.

"Are you feeling ill?" He asked, attempting to check Kamina's temperature, "It's not like you to ask questions."

"I'm not the one who asked it!" He exclaimed, swatting his hand away, "My new buddy here asked the question." Mercial looked over at Monty, piercing through him like daggers with his gaze.

"New buddy? Is this the one you were going out to look for?" The guard asked, getting a positive response from the hot-blooded warrior. "Ah, so you were the one Kamina went out for. Monty, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," He affirmed, his eyes drifting toward the young man eating beside him.

"Well, to answer your question, you're supposed to enjoy your time here." He said, his tone slipping into a factual one, "See, this place was built as a sort of reward for those whose lives had a positive impact on those in the living world, big or small, so they could have a good, a good… _afterlife_ I think is what humans call it."

"What about those who have had a negative impact?" Monty asked, his curiosity peaking a little.

Hearing the question, Mercial shrugged, "People who didn't have much of an impact either way get what you called reincarnated and the other ones just fade away into nothing. No point going drawing attention, good or bad, to those kinds of people."

Though the last part answered his question, his interest was captured by the first part. "Reincarnation? Like they get to go back to living word?" The red-garbed guy narrowed his eyes at him, sensing what he was really asking.

"Yes, but not to the life they had once before. They are reborn into a new life to start a new. No one can come back once dead." Kamian coughed loudly, making Mercial roll his eyes, "Well, Kamina came back once-well, twice. Actually three times if you count that time he became a giant robot. But still, he had to come back. Sorry Monty."

He started to walk away before Monty called out, "Wait! How do you know my name?"

Merical looked back at the newly deceased, smiling at him, "Well, I was supposed to be the one to bring you here, but Kamina insisted he be the one to bring you here. Seems to have really taken to you." A loud screeching sound was heard and the man jogged away, calling out the source of the noise. Monty looked down at his empty plate, wondering of he should get more food while the information that Merical had given him processed in the background. Pushing the plate back, he looked to person next to him, a giant of a man with a face so full of red hair that it was near impossible to tell what the face looked like underneath.

"Hey," he said, nudging the man's arm to catch his attention, "You wouldn't happen to know where I can get some fresh air, do you?"

The man burped a little, excusing himself immediately afterward before he answered him, "Sure, there a door that lead out." He pointed a finger at a door to the upper left corner, "Some like outside after meal."

Thanking the man, he got out of his seat and slipped away to the balcony. Where the sun had begun to set. Monty smiled at the sight, his mind flashing back to a familiar scene he had once created that seemed very much like this with the obvious exception of the clouds. Once again, he was hit hard with the reality of his situation. For the first time since he had been there, the famous animator began to cry, mourning and lamenting the life he once had. So caught up in this he was that he didn't even hear the door open behind him or the footsteps coming up to him until a strong, warm hand placed itself on his shoulder. He turned around to see the face of the one constant in the place he had arrived.

"I saw you leaving the cafeteria," Kamina said, his tone surprisingly somber. He looked around the balcony, his face as readable as a stone wall, "Nice view, isn't it?"

He looked back at the setting sun as it's lights dyed the sky various warm colors, "Yeah, it kind of is." He admitted. The two men stood side by side in silence as the sun continued it's descent into the blue sea around them, the warm colors wading away with it like water washing away sand. After a while, Kamina broke the silence between them, "I know how you feel."

Monty looked at him quizzically, "How I feel?"

"The feeling of leaving friends behind before your time, leaving your family behind to mourn for you and leaving work unfinished that we wanted to complete so badly." He explained, looking at him with perhaps the most serious expression he had ever seen, "I know that you miss your friends who you spent so much time with. You miss the work you put so much effort into. And it makes you sad. But let me say, everything's not so bad. Though you left your friends behind, they will do there best to honor what you have done. Though your family will mourn for you and be in pain for a while, but the wounds will heal and they will kove on. Though you have left your work behind, your friends shall complete what you finished with all the strength they can muster."

"And let me tell you, your death is not the end, in more ways than one. I've your work and your passion and dedication for it shows. Passion and dedication which will inspire those before you to live up to a standard you set for them. They will walk along a path that you paved for them, pushing far beyond anything you could have imagined." Kamina looked at him, smiling as widely as he could, "You may have died, and that is something to cry about. But, what you have left behind will live on, carrying your spirit through out the years and into the decades beyond. I should know."

Taken back by the speech, Monty felt his sadness being washed away like the warm colors above which seemed to drain into him, filling him with a comforting warmth. He was still sad about his death, but now he had something to be happy about. As he wiped away the tears on his face, a black bird flew on top of Kamina's head, causing him to freak out and the bird, a crow, to hop onto the ledge of the balcony. He stared into the eyes of the bird and the bird stared back. Then, the bird flapped it's wings and flew toward the sunset, a single dot of black on the yellow hemisphere. He smiled at the sight and looked at his friend, who was making sure that the bird hadn't crapped on him. He looked back and a silent message passed between the two legends, both of the smiling at it. Then, they turned around and headed back inside, the older of the two with a lighter heart.  
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 **Knightofbalance: And that's all. It's short, I know, but sometimes shorter is better.**

 **I originally thought about making a small letter to Monty but I figured that's not what he wanted. He'd want to console those who were mourning, which I hoped to do with this. I will say this: He was a brilliant man whose death has left it a little darker. But, his life made it a lot brighter.**

 **Carry on the passion and drive he put into his work.**

 **Goodbye, for now.**


End file.
